Monday, December 29, 2014

During
the holidays, students at Piney Grove Elementary helped others in a number of
ways.

For
several years now, students have participated in a canned food drive for Second
Harvest food Bank. This year, students collected eight boxes of food.

“Students
had a friendly competition to see which homeroom could collect the most,” said
Natalie Rempe, who teaches fifth grade. “Mrs. Henley's fourth-grade homeroom
collected the most this year.”

“In
October, we facilitated a penny collection for The Leukemia Foundation through ‘Pennies
for Pasta.’” Rempe said. “Olive Garden is a partner with this fundraiser for
the community to bring funding to fight leukemia. We were able to collect $1,000
to contribute on behalf of Piney Grove Elementary in Kernersville. Mrs.
Brookshire's fifth-grade homeroom collected the most pennies surpassing over
$200.

“Lastly,
we just closed out a collection for nursing homes in the communities
within the Triad. Shoebox collections redistributes personal need items
such as soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothpaste, and other
personal need items to the elderly in the community.

“Student
Council collected several boxes to donate for this worthy cause. Student
Council is always willing to help out with posters to advertise and spread the
word for making contributions to the above-mentioned causes and more throughout
the year.”

In
December, the Child Nutrition Department had a promotion in which 10 elementary
schools competed against each other and all the middle schools competed against
each other for the chance for one student to win a bicycle and another student to
win a mini luge-sled.

Jefferson
Elementary School and Hanes Magnet School had the highest percentage of lunch
participation in their divisions. On Dec. 16 at Jefferson and Dec. 18 at Hanes,
the schools were decorated with snowflakes, snowmen, banners and such. When
students purchased a lunch meal they received a ticket to play snow man toss
and then be entered into a drawing for the bike and sled.

At Jefferson, Leo Couture won the mini luge-sled and Adilyn Doub won the bike.

Adilyn Doub

Leo Couture

At Hanes, sixth-grader Alice Chatterjee won the bike and sixth-grader Neasean Byrd won the mini luge-sled.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Students
taking Commercial Art and Photography at the Career Center classes have been making
and sending cards to active-duty military troops.

“Commercial
Art students are creating the cards (non-holiday themed, more like "thank
you for your service"),” said Stephanie Messer, who teaches Commercial
Art, “and Photography students from Kate Castleberry and Frank Chodl's classes
are submitting their photographs.

“Commercial
Art students have been doing this for about seven years. I ask teachers at the Career
Center for addresses of service members on active duty. Plus I ask through
social media for addresses, and students bring in addresses of members they
know. That's how we get our listing of service members to send packs of cards
and photos to.

“Last
year, one of our own Career Center teachers, Randy Jones, was on active duty
with the Army Reserves over in Afghanistan. He received a bunch of cards
and photographs from our students and was very thankful for them. He had even
Skyped with my students to let them know about life over there. Mr. Jones is
still on active duty this holiday season (but has returned from Afghanistan),
and we will be sending him more cards and photographs again this year.

“We keep
a world map in class and show the locations we send the cards - global
connections!”

During
the holidays, teacher Dottie Cornatzer-Williams’ students at East Forsyth High
School have reached out to others by visiting the Bethesda Center’s shelter for
people who are homeless and by participating in Salvation Army projects.

On
the night of Dec. 14, 13 members of the East Forsyth Leo Club, which is
affliated with the Kernersville Lions Club, went to the shelter on North
Patterson Avenue. Club president Caitlin Smith has arranged for Out West
Steakhouse in Kernersville to donate food for the meal.

“Joyce
Zhong headed up a sewing project where she and other club members made warm
flannel hats to give to each person to help protect them from the winter woes
quickly approaching us.

This
was the second time that students had worked with the shelter. “We first heard
of the opportunity last year when we volunteered at Gifts of Grace through
Morris Chapel in Walkertown,” Cornatzer-Williams said. “Gifts of Grace is a church service project
where families in need in the Walkertown area are given Christmas gifts,
clothes, etc. to ensure a Merry Christmas. After Gifts of Grace, we asked if
there were other activities we could participate with. We first did the shelter
last March. It was very rewarding to see the genuine gratitude in people's
eyes. We wanted to do it again, and Sherry Gray, who heads the church's
shelter program, was able to offer us December.

Here
are some of the thoughts that students had afterward:

Junior
Victoria Rivera: "Donating my time to the Bethesda Center has really given
me the opportunity to see how lucky we are to live in a community where so many
offer to give and help others."

Junior
Dalton Pearman: "It was very gratifying to hear how grateful the people at
the shelter were and to see how happy they were on their faces."

For the third year, Cornatzer-Williams’ students in
the Occupational Course of Study program, have participated in the Salvation
Army’s Give a Kid a Coat, Project Angel Tree and Red Stocking Fund.

“Last year alone we worked a combined 530 hours!” she
said. “We are still racking them up this year! We average about five to seven students
per trip, as their academic and vocational schedules allow.

“While
at Salvation Army, we fill Christmas wishes for children from underprivileged
families that may need help to make their holiday season merry and bright. We
also help fill stocking for the Red Stocking fund that you see at Chick-fil-A's
out in the community. Then the highlight of the holiday season comes when we
help deliver the Christmas toys to the family.

Here
what some of the students participating in that program had to say:

Senior
Marco Aguilar: "I like knowing that I am helping others and making people
happy."

Senior
Daquan Richmond: "I like to work at the Salvation Army because I like to
help people and see people smile. I have
a part in making people's Christmas dreams come true."

Earlier
this month, four teachers and more than 10 students from Reynolds High
School were among those who participated in the 82nd annual performance of
Handel’s Messiah at Reynolds Auditorium.

“This
is an extraordinary experience for young singers to sit in sections of seasoned
singers who've been singing this for 30 to 40 years, to work with a great
chorus master like David Williamson and to work under amazing conductors that
have ranged from Jamie Allbritten to Sir David Willcocks of Cambridge and Kings
College,” said Terry Hicks, the choral music teacher at Reynolds.

"I
have two former students who have returned to sing, and some of my students
sing multiple years. One this year has sung for all four years. It is such a
formidable workout for any singer. It is an amazing experience in a very
concentrated span of one month.

“It's
an outstanding collaboration within our community, a fantastic experience in
numerous ways for young singers.”

Hicks,
Nicole Beale, Mary Bergstone and Joshua Bragg were the four Reynolds teachers who
participated.

Bragg,
who teaches chemistry, said that he enjoyed the experience immensely.

“It
is very satisfying to take a massive work like the Messiah, learn it, and perform it,” Bragg said. “The people
involved are really the best part…In particular, I really enjoyed hearing an
excellent group of tenors from Reynolds standing behind me during the
performance.”

Hicks
worked hard to make the Messiah a
success, Bragg said. “He’s really a gem.”

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

When Santa asked the students in Nora Pauley’s
kindergarten class who knew the names of his reindeer, Pauley raised her hand
along with many of the children.

Her favorite reindeer is Blitzen. “I think the name
has a lot of personality,” Pauley said.

In most of the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten
classes that Santa visited at Hall-Woodward Elementary School this morning, the
response was universally enthusiastic.

Lots of students shouted “Santa!” as he
came through the door. In Karen Martin’s kindergarten class, one girl jumped up
and down while saying, “Goody! Goody!”

As a gift, Santa gave each student a wrapped book so
the greetings were soon followed by such comments as “I got a present.”

And, when he left each class, there were lots of “Thank
you, Santa.”

In one class, a boy said, “That was so cool!”

In Pauley’s class, though, Santa had a heckler. “You’re
not Santa,” said one little girl.

Santa knows exactly who he is, though, so he was unfazed.
And, once the girl opened her gift, she moved on to more important matters,
such as flipping through her new book.

Santa with Jennifer Cobb, Susan Paschal and Tina Long

Each year, the people at the Greater Winston-Salem
Chamber of Commerce invite Santa to visit Hall-Woodward, and, each year, he accepts. Before catching up with students in first
and second grade, he visits the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms
accompanied by such elves as Jennifer Cobb and Tina Long of the Chamber of
Commerce and Susan Paschal, the school’s curriculum coordinator for grades
kindergarten through second grade.

This was the last year that Paschal will be making
the rounds with him, though. She is retiring and Friday is her last day.

“The grandchildren are calling me,” she told Santa.

In several of the rooms, Santa checked to see
whether students knew what his favorite snack and beverage is. Pretty much all
the children already knew it was chocolate chip cookies and milk. The students
in one class were stumped, though, when he asked what reindeer like for a
snack. Carrots, he told them. So now they know.

When Santa came into Emily Terrell’s kindergarten
class, students were making holiday cards to take home to family members on
Friday. There, a boy asked Santa to “Ho! Ho! Ho!” He did.

Santa with Principal Celena Tribby

Principal Celena Tribby stopped in to say hello to
Santa. Her wish? “I want all my babies to be safe and happy and I want my teachers
to get a pay raise.”

In Jennifer Miller’s class, a boy told Santa that he
had heard that Santa couldn’t eat peanut butter. Santa told him that we wasn’t
allergic or anything but that he did avoid it. “It gets stuck in my beard.”

In the hall outside Jeannette Morrison’s class, you
could hear students singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” When he came in,
they sang it for him again.

“We love it when Santa comes,” Morrison said.

Morrison told Santa that she had told students that
he had his ear. “I use it as leverage,” she said.

Santa assured the students that he pays close
attention to what every teacher says. “All the teachers are my elves,” he said.

In Shanda Morrison’s pre-kindergarten class, Santa
sat down in a rocking chair. When it was time to go, the chair came up with
him.

“This might have been a mistake,” Santa said.

Once he was safely extracted from the rocking chair,
it was off to the gym where Santa handed out suckers and pencils to the first-
and second-graders, and Paschal, in case anyone was wondering, mentioned that the
second-grade teachers were participating in Ugly Sweater Day.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

This morning, one of the kindergarten students on their
way to Clemmons Village I, an assistant-living center near Southwest Elementary
School, was Kaye Mullis’ grandson, Kyle Helms.

Mullis, who is the human-resources coordinator at
Clemmons Village, was looking forward to seeing Kyle and to seeing the
expressions of delight on the faces of the residents – particularly the women –
when 70 kindergarteners came through the door.

“Watch their faces when they walk in,” Mullis said.

Marie Nix on right

Kaye Mullis with grandson Kyle

Clemmons Village resident Marie Nix had just
finished distributing the holiday gift bags that she had put together with the
help of her daughter Shirley Wood. “We play bingo, Nix said. “The money I made
from bingo, I just put toward the bags.”

Each of the bags included candy, chewing gum and a
pen because, she said, it seems as if everyone who works there is always looking
for a pen. Nix wasn’t looking forward to
hearing any particular holiday song. “I just like all of them.”

A few minutes later, Principal Matt Dixson came in
to see where Mullis wanted the students to gather. That taken care of, he
headed back out to the buses. In came the kindergarteners wearing an assortment
of holiday hats and reindeer antlers. This was their second of four stops. They
had already been to Kaplan Early Learning Center and sung to employees there.
After singing carols at Clemmons Village I, they would be headed to Clemmons
Village II and then it would be on to Lowes.

Dixson said that going out into the world to sing
carols is not only a great way for everyone to kick off the holidays but also a
good way to give students experiences in that wider world. And, as a bonus, it fits
right in with the curriculum, said kindergarten teacher Tiffany Larson.

By no means was Mullis the only parent or
grandparent on hand to hear the students sing “Five Little Snowmen” and seven
other holiday songs. Christina Castro was there to see her grandson Michael O’Cana,
and Kevin Glass’ mother, Chelsea Beddard, and grandmother, Tandrea Beddard were
both on hand.

The “Must Be Santa” song put to rest any doubts
about who that fellow with “a beard that is long and white” must be. The
students were all armed with jingle bells which they put to good use during – yep,
you guessed it – “Jingle Bells.”

When all the clapping was done, the students took a
holiday walk over to Clemmons Village II, which is just across the lawn and has a Nativity in the lobby, and performed for another group of delighted listeners.

On Monday afternoon, 66 Songsters from Sherwood
Forest Elementary School headed over to the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake
Forest University Baptist Medical Center to deliver a generous helping of
holiday cheer.

One of the people at the center looking forward to
hearing them sing was Rick Bethea who comes to the cancer center regularly for
radiation and chemo treatments for his throat cancer. A musician himself,
Bethea plays the upright bass and other jazz instruments.

Also on hand were a number of Sherwood Forest
parents, including Ashley Quarless, whose son Noah is a member of the group,
and Lovaner and Wakhia Price, whose daughter Saniya is a Songster.

Ross Claytor on cello

Anne Fulk dances

When the fourth- and fifth-graders arrived in the
second-floor lobby carrying such instruments as drums, a cello and a ukulele,
music teacher Mary Epperson and Katie Ballard, a Jefferson Middle eighth-grader
who helps Epperson with the group, went to work setting up everything. Already there
was the Rev. David Fitzgerald, the minister who oversees worship music and the
arts at Ardmore Baptist Church. He had volunteered to accompany them on the
piano.

Ruth Moskop is in charge of therapeutic music for
patients at the cancer center, and, when everything was ready, she welcomed the
students and told them that, although some people at the center didn’t feel
well enough to come to the concert, the open design of the center would allow
the students’ music to carry beautifully through all four floors.

“Your music will make them feel better,” Moskop
said.

Jack Boss and Taylor Hardman

Alex Mallison

The students opened with “The Star-Spangled Banner”
and then moved on to some other non-holiday songs. For one, student Ross
Claytor played the cello while student Annie Fulk danced a piece that she had
choreographed herself.

When it was time for “Jingle Bells,” student Jack Boss took over for Fitzgerald on the piano. Student Taylor Hardman played piano
on “Let It Go,” a song from the movie Frozen,
and, on “What Child Is This?”, student Alex Mallison accompanied everyone on
ukulele.

Fitzgerald headed back to the piano for such songs
as “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

Camila Lucia

Chris Bannigan

Then it was time to head back to the bus.

“I thought they sounded wonderful – beautiful voices,”
said Moskop. “They did a beautiful job and it was fun to have the different
instruments.”

Fifth-grader Camila Lucia said it had been a good
experience. She liked knowing that hearing the students might make people feel
better. “It made me feel really good inside,” Camila said.

“I really liked it that we got to sing our carols
and our songs,” said fifth-grader Chris Bannigan.

As they packed up, Epperson said she had a good time,
too. Songsters meets after school. Epperson praised the students for their commitment
and thanked Katie, whose mother Kelly Ballard teaches at Sherwood Forest, for all
her help with the group.

For Bolton Elementary
Schools, members of Kindness and Compassion Club led the school’s food drive
for Winston-Salem Rescue Mission and penny campaign
for Samaritan Ministries.

As school counselor Rinita
Williams pointed out: “It only takes 196 pennies to feed one person a meal at
the Samaritan Soup Kitchen. In 2½ hours, the soup kitchen provided an average
of 395 weekdays lunches in a 47-seat dining room. To feed 450 people one lunch
it would take 88,200 pennies.”

About Me

We're here to share good news about people associated with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, to answer questions and to let you share your thoughts about how to make the schools better. If you have something that you would like for others to know about or want to ask a question, please send an email to Kim Underwood